WealthManagement.com reported in a roundup published October 23, 2026, that Syntax has linked its Syntax Direct index engine to iRebal, the rebalancing platform offered through Schwab Advisor Services. The roundup covered the tie-up alongside other vendor updates. Syntax announced the integration on October 21, 2026, in a Business Wire release that has also appeared on other financial news sites.
The release describes a workflow in which users log into Syntax Direct with one login, assemble their own indices there, and transmit them to iRebal over an application programming interface as model portfolios. From there, the release says these portfolios can be adjusted for taxes, rebalanced, and tailored account by account, down to fractional shares. Syntax states the arrangement spans building indices, computing them, managing models, executing trades and providing tax-management help to registered investment advisors.
According to Syntax, the connection eliminates a hands-on transfer between designing an index and putting it into a portfolio, a transfer the company says has long kept those two stages separate. FA Magazine carried the company's description of the tool. The release quotes Syntax CEO Patrick Shaddow, Alison Dooher, who is identified as head of Advisor Services AI and Partner Ecosystem at Schwab Advisor Services, and Bruce Traan, president of Syntax Indices. InvestmentNews reported that Traan said the combination would give independent RIAs control over building personalized portfolios at scale.
Syntax had earlier put its indices on the SMArtX Advisory Solutions UMA platform, where, according to a company release from that time, it launched seven thematic indices in April 2023 as its first offering there. In April 2023 it launched seven thematic indices on the SMArtX Advisory Solutions UMA platform, its first offering there, according to a company release from that time. The company describes three segments: Affinity Data, Syntax Direct and Syntax Indices. Its website says its proprietary FIS platform covers over 11,000 public companies worldwide and that the FIS data is sourced from public filings. Descriptions of the firm vary. The October release calls it a New York-based fintech, while InvestmentNews calls it a New York-based index and economic data firm.
Shaddow's background is in index operations. According to WealthManagement.com's podcast coverage, he joined Syntax in September 2021 as president, with a mandate to organize the company's structure and commercialize its intellectual property. Before Syntax, he led index operations at S-Network Global Indexes, supervising a group of 20 people and more than 350 indexes, roughly 100 of which were licensed to products with over $30 billion in AUM. The October release identifies him as chief executive.
Schwab's filings with the SEC characterize it as a holding company for a savings and loan, with businesses spanning wealth management, brokerage, banking, asset management, custody and financial advisory work. Schwab's prospectus filing shows client assets of $13.08 trillion, along with 39.8 million brokerage accounts that are active and 2.4 million banking accounts, all measured at June 30, 2026. Those figures are client assets rather than strictly assets under management, so they should not be read as AUM.
Direct indexing has drawn attention from large managers. Morgan Stanley reports that direct indexing assets under management grew at a 12.7% compound annual rate over five years. Russell Investments put direct indexing AUM at $535.1 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2023. In 2020, Morgan Stanley bought Eaton Vance, mainly for its Parametric direct indexing unit, and BlackRock bought Aperio a month later, according to a CFA Institute blog post. The sources do not say whether Syntax or Schwab plan further changes to the integration.